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Closing arguments in trial for man accused in Fitchburg killing

By Joe Atmonavage, jatmonavage@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
09/29/2016 08:03:51 AM EDT

Dinkue Brown, on trial for first-degree murder in the June 2013 killing of Luis Rodriguez of Fitchburg, is led into a Worcester Superior Courtroom prior to closing arguments on Wednesday. The jury later began deliberations.
SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / JOE ATMONAVAGE

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WORCESTER -- In closing arguments Wednesday, a state prosecutor alleged that Fitchburg's Dinkue Brown planned the robbery that led to the murder of Luis Rodriguez in June 2013 and his actions after the shooting showed he had "a consciousness of guilt."

The defense, however, said Brown "stumbled" into the murder after it had occurred and that the testimony from the state's key witnesses pinning the killing on Brown could not be trusted.

Brown, 29, was indicted by a grand jury in October 2013 on charges of first-degree murder, home invasion, kidnapping, armed assault with intent to rob, and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a firearms owner's identification card in connection with the murder on June 21, 2013, of Rodriguez at his apartment on Marshall Street in Fitchburg.

Assistant District Attorney Michael McHugh told the jurors the case was a "joint venture" in which Dax Gibson, who was convicted in February for the murder of Rodriguez and sentenced to life in prison, was the shooter, under the direction and at the request of Brown.

McHugh said Brown owed Rodriguez money and felt "embarrassed" because Rodriguez had "bad mouthed him" and he wanted "revenge."

However, Rodriguez's girlfriend, Cendy Mejia-Rencon, said Brown and Rodriguez spent time together the night before the murder and the two were getting along.

The state's key witnesses in the case were Michele Kelley and Jenna Kearchner.

Kelley testified during the trial that she drove Brown to pick up Gibson in Gardner before driving to Rodriguez's apartment where the murdered occurred.

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Kearchner testified she was in the car and overheard Brown discussing the plan. Before picking Gibson up, Kelley and Brown went around Fitchburg doing "drug drops" because Brown, a drug dealer, did not have a license or vehicle.

He said the Brown, Gibson and Kelley went to Rodriguez's Marshall Street apartment to "re-up" on their drug supply when they saw the murder scene. Kearchner said she was dropped off at a residence on Hartwell Street and was held against her will.

Brown's defense attorney Brian Murphy called Gary Laaksonen, of Marshall Street, as one of the defense witnesses in an attempt to create reasonable doubt that Brown was the shooter.

Murphy said Laaksonen had "no skin in the game" because he didn't know anyone involved.

Murphy said Laaksonen was "very clear" when he testified the murderer was "dark skin like Chris Rock" and had dreadlocks or braided hair that was shoulder length. Brown and Gibson are both light-skinned and bald.

McHugh countered that argument by telling jurors a black bandanna Gibson put around his face before exiting the vehicle and walking up to Rodriguez's apartment before the shooting could have been mistaken for dreadlocks or braids.

Murphy said Kelley and Kearchner, who are both in jail, cannot be trusted because of their drug habits and alternative motives.

"She lied about all sorts of things," Murphy said about Kelley.

For each witness, Murphy recounted their testimony and their overall appearance on the stand and asked the jury to consider all the facts, not just theory of the murder the Commonwealth proposed.

Kelley testified Gibson got into a vehicle with a duffel bag of semi-automatic guns and revolvers, said Murphy, which was contradicted by Ashley Fruguglietti, Gibson's girlfriend. She testified he left their apartment empty-handed when he was picked up by Kelly and Brown in Gardner on the day of the murder.

McHugh said Kelley described her car as a "horror scene" after Gibson got in the car after the murder, testifying she cleaned it up with napkins and a shirt.

Murphy, however, said police never found the cleaning supplies where she said it was disposed or a weapon used in the crime.

Murphy reminded the jury what Kelley looked like as she testified.

"(She) is more or less incapable of existing in the absence of cocaine," he said.

"This is the person the Commonwealth is asking you to rely on to convict Mr. Brown of murder," Murphy said.

McHugh acknowledged Kelley's drug issues and said the jury must look beyond her current condition.

"You must get past the stigma of a person struggling with drug addiction and concentrate on the corroborating physical evidence, which has no bias," he said.

One of the physical pieces of evidence McHugh referred to was Brown voluntarily going to the Fitchburg Police Department on June 22 to "clear his name" of Rodriguez's death.

He told an officer that he was sleeping when Rodriguez was murdered. However, cell phone records presented by McHugh show 177 texts messages and phone calls during the time Brown told police he was sleeping.

He said this was one of the actions of Brown that displayed his "consciousness of guilt."

"They all then fled Massachusetts," McHugh said.

Gibson went to New York before being arrested in Virginia, while Brown fled to Indiana.

"Let me suggest, in the strongest terms ladies and gentleman, these are not actions consistent with finding a friend murdered," McHugh said. "They are consistent with covering up a murder they committed."

McHugh asked the jury to use their "common sense."

If Brown found his friend murdered, like Murphy said, why would he and Gibson flee Marshall Street, destroy evidence, monitor police broadcasts on a scanner, change their clothes and create alibis, McHugh said.

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